Welcome to Our Reality

The Swedish Armed Forces “Welcome to Our Reality” campaign has won a Silver Integrated Lion at Cannes Inernational Festival of Creativity. With the abandonment of conscription the Swedish Armed Forces today needs to attract employees just like every other business. The “Welcome to our Reality” campaign was designed to recruit soldiers and marines for the next Basic Military Training, from a target group of young men and women between 18 – 25 years, who previously have no military experience. The fictional image of soldiers and marines is often deeply exaggerated and has nothing to do with reality whatsoever. Working with DDB Stockholm the Armed Forces aimed to break down stereotypes and showcase the realities of working in the military sector, with the tag line, “Välkommen till vår verklighet” (Welcome to our reality). The campaign was centred on a week-long simulation of life in the armed forces using a smartphone application, a web site, verkligheten.forsvarsmakten.se, all driven by direct marketing and a pair of television/online commercials.

Click on the image below to play the first commercial in YouTube (HD)

Click on the image below to play the second commercial in YouTube (HD)

The campaign was launched with personal letters sent to 110,000 people in the target group with the invitation, Prova Var Verklighet (Try Our Reality) promoting a smartphone application through which they could try out 35 different assignments designed to simulate a week in the armed forces. The application allowed people to live and breathe the reality of the actual work during an entire week, through assignments that were both technically and emotionally engaging. A text-based simulation was provided via SMS for those without a smartphone.

The goal was to reach 20,000 downloaded applications, 90,000 visits to the site, and to ensure the quality of the applicants, around four applicants per available job. Following the campaign the results speak for themselves. More than 30,000 had downloaded the application, 300,000 had visited the site, and the Swedish Armed Forces could select between more than twelve people for each available job opening. Most importantly, all the applicants have now gained a clear idea of what to expect from a job as a soldier or marine due to a one-week simulation of the job.

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